Look on the rack of most experienced trad climbers and you are almost certain to see an assortment of Tricams. Most climbers agree that visiting the Gunks without multiples of pink through purple is a serious mistake. These wondrous pieces of pro can be used either as cams or nuts and often work where nothing else fits. Tricams are ideal in horizontal cracks, pockets, and shallow vertical cracks. The larger sizes are an affordable way to augment a rack of cams and are ideal for belay anchors due to their high strength and light weight. Tricams can also be placed in icy cracks where regular cams do not work. Updated for 2013! Our engineers recently spent some time working on one of the ageold questions with the Tricam … how to stiffen the sling without impeding its ability to engage the camming action. After much experimenting, we rested on the simple solution of carrying the inner band of webbing further towards the head and using a new stitch pattern. The result is a naturally stiffer sling that makes one-handed placements easier, but still engages the cam in active mode and will even increase durability over sharp edges with the additional layer of material.

Tri-cams are useful in placements where cams might be a little wierd. They are awesome in horizontal cracks. They can be tricky to place, but once set, they are bomber. I have found that the smallest three sizes (pink, red, brown) are the most useful. The only reason I only give four stars is that I don't use them as frequently as cams and nuts. They occupy a small niche of climbing protection, and they are very good at what they do.